Grunewald: the forest and the spy hill
Sand paths through Berlin's biggest forest, up a rubble mountain to the Cold War's abandoned ears. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Grunewald S-Bahn station
Start here, and read the platform before you walk: Gleis 17, the memorial track, is where Berlin's Jews were deported east. A line of cast steel plaques marks each train. Stand a moment before you go into the trees.

2. Grunewald forest paths
Sand underfoot, pines overhead, and almost no signage — which is the point. Pick a westward path and trust it. On a weekday morning you'll have the *Wald* (forest) largely to yourself, dog-walkers excepted.

3. Teufelsberg summit and the radomes
The hill is wartime rubble, eighty metres of it, heaped over an unfinished Nazi military college. On top, the abandoned American listening station — three geodesic *radomes* (radar domes) gone to graffiti and rust. Access is paid and gated; check opening days before you climb.

4. Drachenberg
The quieter twin hill next door, also raised from rubble, and free. Walk up for the same sweep west over the Havel and the forest — no ticket, no fence, just the wind and the kites the hill is named for.

5. Grunewaldturm
A red-brick tower of 1899 on the Karlsberg above the Havel, built for Kaiser Wilhelm I. Climb it if it's open; if not, the terrace below still gives you the river. There's a café here for the halfway coffee you've earned.

6. Havel shore at Schildhorn
Down through the trees to the water. The Havel here is wide enough to read as a lake, with sailing boats most of the year. Follow the shore north, then cut up toward Heerstraße for the train back.

Grunewald: the forest and the spy hill